An operator such as an ultrasound examiner or a sonographer carries out a medical inspection for, particularly, circulatory organs of an examinee with an ultrasound diagnostic apparatus. Image data obtained from the ultrasound diagnostic apparatus are recorded on recording media or photographs for medical examinations. An examiner such as a doctor examines the image data reproduced from the recording media or photographs for the medical diagnosis. Such a medical diagnostic operation has been widely practiced.
A video cassette recorder (VCR), for example, is used to record image data obtained from an ultrasound imaging device of an ultrasound diagnostic apparatus on recording media such as magnetic tapes. A doctor searches image date of his or her examinee from recording media collected for each medical inspection and diagnoses illness of the examinee
Since in this case, however, the operator taking ultrasound photographs and the examiner are different, unless the examiner is correctly informed of what the operator has taken and photographing timings, the examiner will repeat operations for rapid forwarding, rewinding or the like to locate desired image data from the recoding media for diagnosis, and take additional time unexpectedly.
In order to solve such problems there have been methods proposed for an examiner to conveniently search desired image data in which an examinee ID, name, examination information and the like are transmitted to an examiner together with photographic time information of ultrasound image data and counter data of a VCR and in which address signals are recorded at the beginning of image data (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication Tokkaihei 3-289946, for instance).
When, however, an operator forgets taking notes or recording address signals or is involved in other man-made mistakes in the conventional methods, the image data recorded by the VCR cannot be associated with information described in the notes. Further, when a great deal of image data exist, the operator taking ultrasound photographs are very troublesome to take notes or record the address signals.
An object of the present invention is to solve such problems and provide a medical image diagnostic apparatus in which desired image data are easily located and a method of perusing such medical image data.